Over the past few weeks – besides building the videobass prototype and starting to produce in series the parts that are clear – work has begun on the videobass “amplifier”. Unlike the videobass, where I only have to perfect things I didn’t like in the last version, this is a thing I build from scratch. It was only in my head (for some years now).
The idea his to have one piece of equipment with all that is needed to play the videobass: the computer with the videobass software, the monitor an foot pedals – all in a rugged case ready for rough stage environments.
Bring the amplifier, plug it in, power up and boogie…
There have to be connections for
- Video Out: VGA, Composite and S-Video
- A USB jack for the videobass
- Another USB for a webcam or an external hard drive or a keyboard and mouse (even though you shouldn’t need a keyboard or mouse on stage)
- A firewire port for my beloved iSight
- An ethernet jack for sending the steram over a network
- Foot pedal and foot switches
Even tough they are quite pricey, I decided to go with Neutrik data connectors – all these delicate computer ports are just not made for use on the stage and I’ve seen too many USB connectors break and too many RJ45 without their plastic clips
As usual, my head can imagine things only so far, and at some moment I have to build them to see all the things I didn’t think about beforehand. So here we go, some pictures from the process
-
- The case material i bought from valcabox.ch in the Berner Oberland. It was a nice trip to get it, but the panels were so big I had to take out the bed of our van.
-
- Fittings, butterflys, corners…
-
- The cover of the case will be filled with foam
-
- Bottom of the amplifier case
-
- Hoping they fit together
-
- I’m unable to plan everything in advance, so we make a rough case and see if the things will fit. Still not sure where I’ll place the MacMIni
-
- Cutout for the butterly. Behind it is the fitting for the monitor stand
-
- The PVC panel is too soft to hold the monitor at 1m of height. There has to be some solidification.
-
- The monitor will have to lie on some foam for transportation. But its back is curved and there has to be a way to attach the monitor stand. Also the hot air from the MacMini has to evacuate somewhere, and not short circuit with the cold air that has to enter by somewhere. This will be a complicated 3d foam puzzle to solve.
-
- Preparing to spray paint the inner aluminium
-
- I planned a front panel for the amp of 50cm x 6cm and thought this will be plenty of space. But things got more complicated, it will be actually quite crowded in there. Finally I found a place big enough for the VGA to composite video converter.
-
- Problem was: The connector of the VGA cable is HUGE and gets in the way of everything else…
-
- Step by step the things find their place in the case.
-
- I print out a first drawing of a possible front panel as a drilling template. Have to build this stuff to see if it works or not…
-
- From left to right: cutouts for power, power switch, 3 potentiometers, some switches, a neutrik firewire plug, two usb plugs, a rotary encoder, xlr jacks for the foot pedals and an ethernet jack.
-
- A modified gnusb (gnusb.sourceforge.net) will handle the power relais, and interface the switches, rotary and foot pedals to the computer.
-
- The almost finished tryout for a possible front panel.
-
- Soldering things together
-
- I’ve installed v-usb and textwrangler so I can work on the firmware directly on the MacMini and don’t have to switch the plugs back and forth to my powerbook.
-
- Starting to put some life into the hardware…
